The eeriness humming in Aiden's veins and across his whole being distracted him. Here and now, in this moment, he found how far he'd really come. So far that he'd forgotten himself and become something new.

Aunt Rachel chatted away, often translating for the elves, and Olivia enjoyed their aunt's company earnestly, even being comfortable enough to flirt with the golden-eyed elves.

But his body was restless and demanded he set off to conquer Earth's Authority immediately. Forcing himself to sit still and attempt to take in the atmosphere left him desiring to be back with Leyla and Blizzy, back where there were more monsters to fight and gods to stop.

How far he'd come that this moment he'd longed for held nothing but hollow reminders of his long lost innocence.

How long did he have to sit until he could leave?

“Earth to Aiden!” Olivia shouted, waving a hand in his face.

“Hmm?” He'd long since stopped listening to their conversations and now had to tune back in. “What is it?”

“Aunt Rachel asked why you said I have to stay here,” Oli helpfully caught him up.

“Because.”

They waited for him to elaborate further and then sighed in unison when he didn't offer any.

“That’s not an answer and you know it.” Aunt Rachel stared at him intently. “If we’re going to discuss your plans, that does require you to speak them aloud.”

Taking a deep breath, he leaned forward on his elbows and clasped his hands. “I spent a week fighting for my life in an arena against angels, gladiator style. All day, everyday. To have the power to survive that and end the war for Midrath’s Authority then stop Loki's monster rush, I made a deal,” he explained, lowering his eyes to stare at his hands.

“Who do you owe, and how do we get you out of it?” There was an unusual hardness to Aunt Rachel’s voice now, as if she thought she could walk up to a god and give them a stern talking-to until they let him off his obligations.

“A being even gods fear. There's no getting out of my end of the bargain.” He shrugged. “I signed my soul away. If I don't do what I've agreed, not only will I die, so will Leyla.”

Now Aunt Rachel perked up, shooting Olivia a look. Olivia looked away to avoid making eye contact. Seeing this, Aunt Rachel turned that stare Aiden’s way. “Honey, who is this Leyla girl, and why didn't your lovely sister say anything to me about her?”

“Probably because Oli is jealous?”

“Am not!” A gust of wind rattled the table they sat at.

He let off his teasing with a satisfied smirk. “Leyla is also a Fallen tied to a destiny heralding the end of the world who's, all things considered, reasonably unhinged. We're still working through a few things, but it's not like there's interdimensional therapy I can sign her up for.”

“I’m sure we can get that arranged,” Aunt Rachel said with firm confidence. Then she slumped a bit. “As soon as we stop the monster invasions from destroying everything we build, of course, but anyone who’s special enough to catch your eye and earn your loyalty is worth the effort.”

“She caught a lot more than his eye,” Oli grumbled.

This time, Aiden sheepishly avoided Aunt Rachel's stare. “She's a good girl.”

“With the tendency to make Harley Quinn look tame,” Oli added. He couldn't even blame her for that one.

“I look forward to meeting her. But first we need to get her safely away from that overgod kidnapper you made a deal with.”

“Who said anything about kidnappers?” Aiden squinted. “She can handle herself. The portal from Midrath to Earth wouldn't let her through. Her and Blizzy both were very excited to meet you.” He shrugged. “I'll take care of the invasion problem when I leave here, but if I'm not dead in the near future, I'll bring you to Midrath to meet them.”

“Which sounds like a very good reason for you both to stay here and not go rushing off into danger. I’d love to meet your girlfriend and dragon, but it sounds like you’re in something way over your head. If you have to specify that you could be dead in the immediate future, there’s clearly something wrong here.”

“Rushing headfirst into danger alone is kind of his specialty,” Olivia unhelpfully muttered.

“Can't deny that.” He shrugged away Aunt Rachel's dangerously sweet smile.

“And why are you talking about dying so casually?!” Olivia growled, glaring daggers at him. Her control of her emotions caused her wind magic to idly bump things around.

Aunt Rachel rested a hand on Olivia's. “I'd love the answer to that question too.” She pinned an unblinking stare at Aiden. “Nephew?”

Uh-oh. Aiden knew that look and tone all too well. “Well, yeah… If I don't fulfill my end of the bargain by diving into the pits of what we know as hell, my patron will kill me. So no, I can't stay here and do nothing. On top of that, to stop this from ever happening again, I'll likely have to wage an interdimensional war against… heaven. And then I'll remain as a gatekeeper to ensure the gods don't find a way to slip through any cracks, while also avoiding any attempts they make to murder me.”

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“And the prophecy Leyla’s involved in ends with her being sacrificed to end the world. Which, since he's avoiding telling you, I'll go ahead and do it.” He was really getting tired of her throwing him under the bus. Aunt Rachel didn't need to know everything he was involved in. “He linked his soul with Leyla’s, so if either one dies, they both do. Considering her prophecy… I can't believe he's my twin brother. There's a void of emptiness in the space between his ears, that's for sure.”

“So, let me get this straight. The person you chose to tie your soul to is one who’s going to be sacrificed to end the world? And you went ahead anyway, not only with this soul tie thing but also with making additional deals with people capable of killing you both?”

Pursing his lips, Aiden nodded. “Yup.”

“Fully aware of the risks involved?”

“Sure did.”

“Now I really want to meet her.”

Olivia looked at Aunt Rachel with a hint of betrayal in her eyes, then noticed the stare. Grinning, she turned to Aiden. “Maybe she will finally be able to get through that thick skull of yours.”

“Too late for that,” he said, leaning back and crossing his arms.

“Yes. So I see. Very much too late.”

“Maybe it's better if I don't introduce you to Leyla,” he muttered under his breath.

“Too late for that. I’m going to have a talk with this girl even if I have to hunt you down across another dozen worlds.” It was somewhat impressive that she could say something so absurd with such unflinching, aggressive sincerity that he found it hard to doubt, despite the logistics involved.

“But none of this answers the question of why I have to stay behind!” Olivia hissed.

“Too dangerous,” Aunt Rachel and Aiden said at the same time.

“Unless you’re another one of these soul-tied doomed people, I see no reason for you to leave. Bad enough for one of you to be maybe dying. I don’t see any reason to send you into the heart of the madness. There’s plenty of good you can do here.”

Aiden held up a finger to stop Olivia's reply. “Not only that, you're happier here. I'll leave the gate open back to Zion so you can work with Claudia and Magnus to develop magic items and runic structures, but I'm not taking you to war with me. Not again.”

“I…” Olivia leaned back and slumped in her chair, throwing her hands up and slapping her knees. “What do I even say to that?”

“Do you think you’d be able to change anything if you went with him? If you think about it very honestly and very carefully, the skills and powers you have, are they enough that your presence would make a difference there?”

“Wait, Aunt Rachel, it's not about that.” Aiden turned to Olivia. “I think you're one of the most elite we have in terms of creating innovations, and you've grown powerful. But fighting isn't your thing and never has been. I know you're worried about me, Oli, but I have no plans of dying anytime soon. Zion needs someone. Aunt Rachel needs someone, and I am the fighter. These are my problems to solve, and I found people who want to fight with me. I'm not alone in this anymore, not like before, and I want to see you do something with your life that makes you happy.” He paused, sighing. “And I wouldn't be able to think straight if you were there with me, Oli, because you're my sister, and I love you.”

There was a long silence.

“Oh,” Olivia finally said, very small and flustered. “I see.”

“Plus, I've already restricted you from entering Halla or Valhalla, so you're not going because I said so,” he said with a teasing grin.

“Hey! No fair!”

“Life isn't fair, and I know how you get when you're worried. It's for your own good.” He shrugged. “Be mad at me all you want, but you're not going and nothing you say will make me change my mind.”

One of the elves had been lying on the ground since Aiden came in and finally opened his eyes, looked around, and groaned as he rose to his feet.

The other elves hesitantly approached him, their tone conveying clear concern.

Aiden thumbed toward them. “I've been meaning to ask about them.”

“They were caught by some of the madness around the whole monster territory thing, which you apparently ended up taking over, and needed healing. I’m one of the only humans who can converse in Elfin, so I’m the obvious choice.”

“The Serian Prowler caught me off guard after slaying several of our teams. I had to deal with it, but one of Leyla’s abilities doesn't play nice and I had to borrow it. Left me unconscious.” He looked at Aunt Rachel inquisitively. “Do you know anybody by the name Brandon who might like going into higher ranked territories? He dragged me out of there when I went down and made sure I didn't become a snack.”

“No clue,” she said with a shrug.

“I'll have to look into it on my way back after collecting Earth's Authority then.” He thumbed back toward the elves. “Also, that's not what I meant. Where are they coming from, and why are they here?”

“I think this group is mainly exiles.” She switched to their language for a minute, conversing briefly with the central recently-revived elf, then nodded. “They’re here to make a new home for themselves, or distinguish themselves sufficiently that they can return with full honors.”

“I'm more curious about their portals. I attempted to bring a few of the other races over from Midrath but couldn't and wanted to find out why. They've got a lot of ways they can be useful to us and a lot of knowledge of magic, plus they're pretty skilled themselves and could help with subjugation of the hostile invasion gates. Do they know anything about that?”

Aunt Rachel addressed them and chuckled after more than one pointed at Aiden. Once she got the answer she was looking for, she relayed the message. “When you come back, close the portal, then open it again. As long as you don't pass through, it won't make things weird. Something about the Authority you possess and this being your protected homeworld.”

“Interdimensional things are weird,” he muttered. Why the people he'd claimed under his protection would be kept from going to Earth just because he'd gone didn't seem too reasonable to him, but so be it. “I'll let everyone back home in Zion know before I leave for Halla.”

Aunt Rachel blinked twice. “Home… in Zion?” She chuckled sadly. “I guess you really have grown up a lot these past couple weeks, huh.”

Aiden, confused, looked at Olivia. “Months, not weeks.”

“Don't look at me. I said the same thing,” Olivia said, turning her attention to the elves.

“That's… good to know,” he muttered, standing. “I'll be sure to swing by on my way back, but if I keep ignoring Earth's Authority any longer, I might accidentally blow up this building.”

“Yeah, who really needs the therapy?” Olivia quipped, rising and pushing past the elves gathered around the table to give him a big hug. He didn't stiffen as he had when he first arrived. “Don't take too long.”

Aunt Rachel waited until Olivia was done, then came over to give Aiden a hug of her own. Her eyes glistened but her voice remained clear as she whispered, “I’m proud of you. Be careful, stay safe, and come back to visit. Bring your girlfriend next time. I promise I won’t bite unless she wants me to.”